National Reform Programmes

National Reform Programmes (NRPs) are documents issued by EU Member States to the European Commission on an annual basis (since 2011), detailing the specific policies they will implement to boost jobs and growth and prevent/correct imbalances, and their concrete plans to comply with the EU's country-specific recommendations and general fiscal rules.

NRPs are key instruments in the EU’s European Semester process, which is a cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination within the EU and part of the European Union's economic governance framework. The NRPs are based on the European Commission’s Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, which set out common priorities and targets for national employment policies. The Commission’s Employment Guidelines are intrinsically linked to the economic guidelines: together, they form the integrated guidelines that underpin the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Under the European Semester, each Member State submits their NRPs each April. The NRPs are assessed by the Commission in May, and in June, the Commission provides country-specific recommendations to Member States as appropriate, which are discussed and then formally adopted by the Council in July. Each year’s NRPs are published by the Commission online. 

See also: country-specific recommendations; employment guidelines; Broad Economic Policy Guidelines; National Action Plans; European Employment Strategy.